Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum). Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, if we are going to stop the slaughter of African elephants, we need to stop the illegal trade in ivory. This rider has nothing to do with the unprecedented poaching crisis, and it ignores the impact of the illegal ivory trade within the United States and the way that it is impacting the African elephants' survival. The rider also undermines the United States' ability to push other countries with significant ivory markets--like China, Vietnam, and Thailand--to take stronger actions to restrict ivory trade. In fact, according to a recent Washington Post article, China has signaled that its actions to further restrict ivory trade were contingent on what the United States does to regulate our domestic trade. It is in the national interest of the United States to combat wildlife trafficking and to ensure that we don't contribute to the growing global demand for elephant ivory, which is also funding terrorism around the world. We need to come up with a responsible set of regulations that protect elephants, while making accommodations to allow certain activities to continue that do not pose a threat to elephants. I urge my colleagues to support the Grijalva amendment.”